The sophomore went 6 1/3 innings and drove in the first two runs as the Chico High baseball team continued its strong play of late, winning for the eighth time in nine games with an 8-3 victory over Oroville to complete a series sweep Friday at Skip McDonald Field.

Bolen doubled in his first two at-bats, driving in a run each time, Miles Fishback doubled among two hits and drove in two runs, and Paolo DiSano capped the Panthers' offense with a two-run single in the seventh inning.

For Oroville, Josh Malone hit a solo home run in the seventh inning, Marcus Wilhite drove in the Tigers' first run on an infield single and Jackson Berry added an RBI single two batters after Malone went deep.

But after a doubleheader sweep Tuesday, the Panthers (14-6, 7-2 Eastern Athletic League) took care of the visiting Tigers on Friday by scoring six runs with two outs.

"We always talk about just trying to extend an inning, keep it going and today we did that," Chico coach Chip Carton said.

Bolen commanded a biting curveball that he relied on early before mixing in his other pitches more evenly. He allowed six hits, walked one and struck out six in his outing before giving way to Creed Smith, another sophomore, who struck out the two batters he faced to end the game after Oroville scored twice in the seventh.

Bolen, the team's regular catcher, gave Kevin Louber, Chico's backstop with Bolen on the bump, a break by working quickly. Smith didn't waste much time, either, ending an Oroville rally as soon as he entered.

"Just give me the ball and let's pitch, let's play," Carton said of Bolen and Smith. "I like their confidence. It's a 'Give me the ball' mentality. And they compete. Whether they're a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, it doesn't matter really, but you've got kids that want to get on the mound and compete. It's good."

Bolen backed himself with a first-inning double to score Smith after he had led off with a single, and Bolen struck again in the fourth inning on another Tanner Andoe fastball up in the zone for a second double to score Matt Gomes, who had reached on an infield single.

"It just brings your confidence up 100 percent. If you do good at the plate when you go out there out at the mound, it's just a different mind-set," Bolen said.

Chico tacked on two more runs in the fourth when Mason Marshburn scored on Sean Gallivan's double-play grounder and Fishback hit a ball into shallow right-center that a diving Blake Littleton couldn't keep in his glove.

"It's tough. We could have done it, but just a couple of plays that didn't happen," Malone said. "But we'll play hard, we've got three more teams next week so we'll practice, go in there and work hard."

Malone provided an Oroville (8-14-1, 4-7 EAL) highlight, turning on a fastball left up in the zone by Bolen with one out in the seventh inning.

"Wish we would have won, would have felt a whole lot better," Malone said of his first home run of the season.

Jackson Berry's RBI single after Wilhite walked prompted Bolen's exit, not that he really minded with Smith relieving him.

"You couldn't ask for anybody better to come in," said Bolen, whose only other spot of trouble came in the fifth inning when Oroville loaded the bases on two hit batters sandwiched around an error with no outs. But he only gave up one run on Wilhite's single down the line that could have been worse if not for Marshburn, the first baseman, keeping it in the infield. "The effort they put out today, it's just incredible, the diving plays and everything."

But Oroville's seventh-inning rally came after Chico scored four in the sixth, all with two outs. Fishback knocked a bad-hop single through the middle, Michael Farley ripped another single up the middle and DiSano drove in two runs with another hit.

Wilhite and Brandon Tewksbury each had two hits for the Tigers, who host Gridley in a nonleague contest, starting at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Chico's final week of the regular season starts at 1 p.m. Tuesday with a doubleheader at Las Plumas.